This invention relates generally to a chocolate coating for a dairy dessert and more particularly to a novel sugar free chocolate coating for use in conjunction with a sugar free frozen dairy dessert such as an ice cream bar, cone, or the like.
Consumer demand for lower calorie sugar free food items has led to the development of frozen dairy desserts in which all or a large portion of the normal sugar content is replaced by small amounts of artificial sweeteners such as sacharin and aspartame together with suitable bulking agents. The teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,492,131, 3,780,189 and 4,626,441 are pertinent to such developments and are incorporated herein for background purposes. In addition U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,322 discloses a low calorie chocolate coating wherein a low calorie arabinogalactan product may replace sugar on an equal weight basis. Reissue Pat. RE No. 30,722 discloses a conventional sugar chocolate coating.
However, this invention is directed to a specific need not addressed by those prior patents, that is, a sugar free chocolate coating containing aspartame (NutraSweet.RTM.) for use on a sugar free dairy dessert bar, the coating closely simulating the taste, texture, mouthfeel, and color characteristics of the sugar chocolate coating conventionally applied on the dessert bar.